An Israeli bulldozer killed poor Rachel CorrieAs she stood in its path in the town of RafahShe lost her young life in an act of compassionTrying to protect the poor people of GazaWhose homes are destroyed by tank shells and bulldozersAnd whose plight is exploited by suicide bombersWho kill in the name of the people of GazaBut Rachel Corrie believed in non-violent resistancePut herself in harm's way as a shield of the peopleAnd paid with her life in a manner most brutalBut you who philosophise disgrace and criticise all fears,Take the rag away from your face.Now ain't the time for your tears.

Rachel Corrie had 23 yearsShe was born in the town of Olympia, WashingtonA skinny, messy, list-making chain-smokerWho volunteered to protect the Palestinian peopleWho had become non-persons in the eyes of the mediaSo that people were suffering and no one was seeingOr hearing or talking or caring or actingAnd the horrible math of the awful equationThat brought Rachel Corrie into this confrontationIs that the spilt blood of a single AmericanIs worth more than the blood of a hundred Palestinians

But you who philosophise disgrace and criticise all fears,Take the rag away from your face.Now ain't the time for your tears.

The artistic director of a New York theatreCancelled a play based on Rachel's writingsBut she wasn't a bomber or a killer or fighterBut one who acted in the spirit of the Freedom RidersIs there no place for a voice in AmericaThat doesn't conform to the Fox News agenda?Who believes in non-violence instead of brute forceWho is willing to confront the might of an armyWhose passionate beliefs were matched by her braveryThe question she asked rings out round the worldIf America is truly the beacon of freedomThen how can it stand by while they bring down the curtainAnd turn Rachel Corrie into a non-person?

Oh, but you who philosophise disgrace and criticise all fears,Bury the rag deep in your faceFor now's the time for your tears.